This is vertiginously fast, and a lot is expected of us. But at the same time, you can see yourself moving forward and suddenly there’s a road laid in front of you and for a brief, beautiful moment, you know what to do.

It’s odd to stop and think it’s been over two years since I attended GapSummit. It was the first time I went abroad for an event, workshop, anything structured or work-related, really. The first time traveling alone, and the first of many trips I have since embarked on as part of my work with Kaitek.

“The biotech market in Chile is in absolute infancy.” – This blunt statement is how Markus Schreyer starts our interview. Markus, a German investor and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of international industry and market experience, is now dedicated to supporting the development of a proper biostart-up ecosystem in Chile.

Under the motto “Chile needs science” (hashtag #ChileNecesitaCiencia), and dressed in their labcoats, Chilean scientists have been gathering in front of the presidential palace and on social networks to oppose the government’s decision to not raise the country’s budget for research and development

an innocuous and universal cancer drug, made in Chile. This is the promise of Andes Biotechnologies, a Chilean biotech company whose invention has just been cleared by the FDA for clinical trials in the US.